The present invention is directed in general to programming nodes in a communication network and more specifically to the parallel program of nodes in the communication network.
With the addition of electro-pneumatically operated train brakes to the railroad freight train, there is a need to provide a communication network between the locomotive and each of the cars of the freight train. Each car includes one or more nodes of the communication network providing for communication and control of the electro-pneumatic brake as well as monitoring functions of other operations at the individual cars. A freight train may have, for example, 100 or more cars and thus, the network would need a minimum of 100 or more nodes in addition to the nodes on one or more of the locomotives. The American Association of Railroads has selected as a communication architecture, for the electric-pneumatic (EP) systems, LonWorks by Echelon. Each car includes a Neuron chip as a communication node in this design. The network and the nodes are interconnected by power and communication trainlines, either over a common power and communication line or over separate power and communication lines.
The consist of the freight train, including one or more locomotives and a plurality of cars, continuously varies as to the length of the train and the cars which make up the train. Similarly, in a single train, the environment in which it is travelling may vary. Thus, it is very beneficial to provide the ability to reprogram the individual nodes, to change the operating parameters or parameters monitored. This requires a reprogram of the individual nodes. The present design of the LonWorks hardware and software requires each of the nodes to be individually programmed one at a time. Thus, the programming of the nodes or a subset of similar nodes, would require an extensive amount of time. This will either require downtime of the whole freight train, or a lack of monitoring and brake control over one or more of the cars while the train is moving. Thus, it limits the amount of reprogramming which can be conducted or requires down time of the train or individual cars. Thus, there exists a need of a method and system for more efficiently and safely reprogramming nodes in a communication network.
Thus, it is an object of the invention to provide a method and apparatus for parallel programming of nodes in the communication network.
Another object of the present invention is to provide an efficient and safe method and apparatus for programming nodes in a communication network.
These and other objects are achieved by providing, in a communication network having a plurality of nodes and a controller, a plurality of intermediate nodes in communication on a one-to-one basis with the plurality of first target nodes to be programmed. A first file containing a first executable program is transferred in parallel to each of the intermediate nodes. Intermediate nodes then, in parallel, program a respective first target node. The intermediate nodes may begin programming a respective first target node upon receipt of a sufficient portion of the first file to initiate programming or may begin upon receiving the complete first file. The intermediate nodes may also have connected thereto a respective second target node and may program the second plurality of target nodes simultaneously and in parallel using either the first file already transferred or a second file containing a second executorial program transferred in parallel. If the first and second target nodes are the same type, the common program can be used and if not, two separate executorial programs must be used.
The network in the preferred embodiment is a LonWorks network where each of the nodes are Neuron based nodes. With the presently available hardware, flash memory is provided to each target node to allow reprogramming. The programming of the target nodes in parallel is performed asynchronously. Preferably, the controller is on one of the locomotives of a train and one or more nodes are on the individual cars of the train.
Other objects, advantages and novel features of the present invention will become apparent from the following detailed description of the invention when considered in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.